Fire damages Washington High

November 12, 2005|PATRICK M. O'CONNELL

A newly installed gas-fired kiln used to make ceramics ignited a fire Friday night on the roof of Washington High School. A small number of students, faculty and staff inside the school when the fire started about 6:15 p.m. were able to exit safely, officials said. "The roof caught on fire and I went to spray the fire extinguisher to put it out, but it was too late," said Bert White, a school custodian. "There was too much smoke already." The kiln, a furnace-like apparatus used to fire-heat clay, had reached a temperature of about 2,200 degrees when it superheated the roof above the art-classes section of the school, said Ann Hamilton, head of the school's art department, who was inside when the fire broke out. An overheating exhaust hood on the kiln caused the blaze, the fire department said. It took firefighters about a half hour to bring the fire under control. Basketball team members, the wrestling squad and theater students rehearsing in a drama room near the art classroom all exited without incident, police and Hamilton said. The school's fire alarms activated once smoke began to fill the art classroom, White said. After trying to extinguish the fire, White said he searched the room for art teachers before he left the building. The new kiln was installed this week, Hamilton said, and was in the process of being fired up for the first time as a test when the roofing material ignited. An art teacher was slow-heating the kiln, a procedure called "candling," which increases the temperature by 25 degrees every hour. Hamilton said she believes the kiln must have been constructed incorrectly, causing the roof to superheat during the process and igniting the fire. The fire department estimated the damage to be about $15,000.Staff writer Patrick M. O'Connell: poconnell@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6357